| AROUND THE
WORLD - USA & CANADA |
|
|
|
Red Dog Files Tax Complaint
Teck Alaska, operator of the Red Dog mine in northwest Alaska, has filed a complaint in the Superior Court for the state of Alaska over a tax increase that Teck estimates could more than triple its annual payments as of 2016. The company said Red Dog has provided annual contributions to the Northwest Arctic Borough (NAB) under a negotiated Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) agreement for more than 25 years; these averaged about $11.5 million per year over the past five years, more than double the average borough tax payment for an Alaskan mine...... read
more |
|
|
Kaminak Advancing Coffee Gold Project
Kaminak Gold has reported a positive feasibility study for its Coffee gold project 130 km south of Dawson City in Yukon Territory, Canada. The study contemplates an openpit, heap-leach operation producing a total of 1.86 million oz of gold over a 10-year mine life. Kaminak intends to move forward into mine permitting to support mine construction, which is planned to begin in mid-2018. Initial capital expenditure to fund construction and commissioning is estimated at C$317 million. All-in sustaining cash costs are estimated to... read more
Top
|
|
|
Quebec Approves C$1.2B Lac à Paul Phosphate Project
Arianne Phosphate has received a ministerial decree from the government of Quebec approving development of the company’s Lac à Paul phosphate project in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of the province. Arianne is now looking to finance project construction. The Lac à Paul project is located approximately 200 km north of the city of Saguenay. A 2013 feasibility study outlines development of an open-pit mine and concentrator producing a high-quality apatite concentrate and a transport system delivering the product.... read
more
|
|
|
| AROUND THE
WORLD - Latin America |
|
|
|
Codelco Dedicates Ministro Hales Mine
In a ceremony held in January, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet officially opened Codelco’s newest mine, Ministro Hales. After touring the facilities of the open-pit operation and climbing aboard one of its haul trucks, Bachelet said, "We are setting a historic milestone…because we are taking the first step of many that we will take to keep Codelco at the forefront of world mining, while driving the development of Chile. To talk about Codelco is to talk about our history, it is also to talk about our present…… read
more |
|
|
Torex Pours First Gold at El Limón-Guajes
Torex Gold Resources poured the first goldsilver doré bars at its El Limón-Guajes openpit gold-silver project in Guerrero state, Mexico, in late December. Contained metal totaled about 350 ounces (oz) of gold and 350 oz of silver. The project will continue to ramp up throughout 2016. Beginning in 2017, production is scheduled to average 369,000 oz/y of gold and 214,000 oz/y of silver over a period of nine years. The El Limón-Guajes project is based on two independent open pits. The pits will feed a centrally located cyanide…. read more
|
|
|
|
| AROUND THE
WORLD - Australasia |
|
|
|
Nautilus Contracts for Wet Testing of Seafloor Mining Units
Nautilus Minerals has signed agreements with United Engineering Services LLC to provide support services associated with wet testing the company’s seafloor production equipment and storing the equipment as it is delivered from various suppliers prior to integration onto Nautilus’ production support vessel (PSV). The first of the equipment to be tested will be the three types of Seafloor Production Tools…. read
more |
|
|
Atlas Iron Completes Corunna Downs PFS
Atlas Iron has reported the results of a prefeasibility study (PFS) of its Corunna Downs iron ore project in Western Australia, which demonstrates the potential to deliver 4 million metric tons per year (mt/y) of lump and fines direct shipping ore over an initial mine life of five to six years. Atlas operates three direct shipping ore mines in the Pilbara region of Western Australia that currently produce a combined total of 14 million to 15 million mt/y. The Corunna Downs project has …. read
more
Top |
|
|
|
| |
|
Asanko Commissioning Ghana Gold Mine
Asanko Gold began commissioning Phase 1 of its Asanko gold mine in southwest Ghana in December, with expectations that first gold would be produced in January. The project is designed to produce 190,000 ounces per year (oz/y) of gold over a period of 12 years at steady-state operations. Capital expenditures to complete the project were within the budgeted $295 million, according to the company. Mining operations were performing according to plan, with approximately 290,000 metric tons (mt) of ore on the….
read
more
|
|
Nevsun Nears Completion of Bisha Zinc Concentrator
Nevsun Resources expects to begin commissioning the new zinc flotation plant at its Bisha operations in Eritrea midway through the second quarter of 2016, with commercial production to follow later in the year. Nevsun currently produces copper concentrates from the Bisha deposit’s copper-enriched supergene zone, which overlies a primary sulphide zone containing both zinc and…. read
more
|
|
|
| |
Report Highlights Changes in Asian Bauxite Supply Picture
London-based Roskill Information Services recently released its latest Metallurgical Bauxite and Alumina report, with forecasts to 2026. The report highlights concerns about Malaysia’s anticipated role as a longterm supplier of bauxite for the Chinese market after Indonesia stopped exporting raw ore. China, the world’s largest alumina and aluminum producer, lost a significant supplier of bauxite to feed its alumina refineries in 2014 following Indonesia’s decision to implement a ban on the export of unprocessed ores. As such, the industry…. read more
|
|
|
|
JV to Develop Major Russian Gold Deposit
Polyus Gold, the largest gold producer in Russia, and Polymetal International, a leading gold and silver producer in Russia and Kazakhstan, have entered into a jointventure agreement to develop Polyus Gold’s Nezhdaninskoye gold deposit. The deposit is located in Russia’s Far East, approximately 450 km east of Yakutsk, a major port on the Lena River. The deposit hosts 20.3 million oz of C1+C2 gold reserves at a grade of 5.1 g/mt under the Russian system of reserves classification. Under the agreement, Polymetal may acquire……
read more
Top
|
|
|
|
| |
States, Groups Seeking Stay on US EPA Clean Power Plan
After their earlier request for a stay of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) was rejected in a lower court, a group of 27 U.S. states, state agencies and groups are now petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the implementation of the restrictive regulations on the grounds of governmental overreach. The coalition, which includes states such as Wyoming, West Virginia, Ohio and Texas, along with the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others, is arguing that the …. read more
|
|
|
|
North Antelope Rochelle Hits Shipping Milestone
Peabody Energy’s North Antelope Rochelle mine (NARM), the nation’s top producing operation and its flagship complex in the southern Powder River Basin of Wyoming, has shipped its 2 billionth ton of coal. The company said January 20 that the new marker represents more than 83 million man-hours and the loading of 17 million train cars and more than 125,000 trains. NARM met its first billion-ton milestone in 2006, 23 years after first coal …. read more
|
|
|
Alpha to Idle 8 Mines, 2 Plants; Hundreds Furloughed
TAhead of its plant to idle eight mining operations and two processing plants in southern West Virginia on an ongoing market slump, troubled miner Alpha Natural Resources has issued layoff notices to a total 886 workers. The mines’ operators, Marfork Coal, Elk Run Coal and Maxxim Shared Services, issued Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices on January 25. The last day for workers will be around March 25. Included in the idles and furloughs are Marfork’s Brushy Eagle …. read more
|
|
|
|
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. announced that David Delaney, executive vice president and COO, will retire. Named to his current position in 2010, he has been instrumental in leading the company through the finalization of the largest expansion program in its history.
Dominion Diamond appointed Jim Gowans to the board of directors. The board intends to appoint Gowans the nonexecutive chairman. Gowans is currently president, CEO and director of Arizona Mining. Previously, he was co-president of Barrick Gold.
Robert Brown has been appointed as vice president of corporate development for Hecla Mining following the retirement of Don Poirier. Prior his appointment, he served as an advisor to Hecla since March.
Tiger Resources announced that Neil Fearis has stepped down as chairman and retired from the board. Mark Connelly has assumed the role of chairman. Fearis, who was appointed chairman in May 2011, has overseen the development of the Kipoi copper project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Beaufield Resources appointed Mathieu Stephens to vice president, exploration and corporate development. Previously, he was the senior geologist and chief geologist.
Caterpillar elected Denise Johnson, currently vice president with responsibility for the Material Handling and Underground Division, as group president of Resources Industries, effective April 1. The appointment follows the recently announced retirement of Group President Ed Rapp.
GIW Industries announced that Wolfgang Demmler has assumed his new role as president and managing director of the company. Demmler takes over the leadership role from the previous president, Dennis Ziegler, who retired at the end of 2015.
Michael Woloschuk has been appointed to a new role within FLSmidth as group key industry director—gold. He comes from Waterton Global Resource Management where he was a partner and head of process engineering for Canada’s largest precious metals-focused private equity fund.
